On August 9, 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) ruled that hundreds of millions of dollars of ongoing and future investments by Chelan County Public Utility District (“Chelan PUD”) in the Rock Island Hydroelectric Project qualified as early-action investments under the new section 36(c) of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”).  Accordingly, FERC will consider these significant investments when the Rock Island Project undergoes relicensing of its FERC license prior to the 2028 expiration of…

In the April 27, 2019 edition of the Energy Bar Association’s Energy Law Journal, FERC Commissioner Richard Glick and legal advisor Matthew Christiansen published an article titled “FERC and Climate Change,” describing that the actions of the Commission, as well as the family of federal and state agencies, have “substantial consequences” for climate change.  The authors argue that the threat of climate change does not necessitate “a wholesale reinterpretation of the Commission’s jurisdiction or a…

On May 6, 2019, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (“Oregon DEQ”) denied a water quality certification under section 401 of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) for the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) export terminal and its feeder pipeline, the Pacific Connector, to be located on Oregon’s southern coast.…

On April 18, 2019, FERC issued a unanimous order, supported by all FERC Commissioners, ruling that the California State Water Resources Control Board (“SWRCB”) waived authority to issue a water quality certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), 33 U.S.C. § 1641, in the pending hydropower relicensing of the Middle Fork American River Project (“Project”).  Applying the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s (“D.C. Circuit”) seminal opinion in Hoopa Valley Tribe…

On February 5, 2019, a copy of a December 13, 2018 policy directive memorandum from the U.S. Department of the Army’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Works to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”) Chief of Engineers was released.  Notably, the memorandum directs the USACE to adhere to a “default time period” of 60 days for states to act on a request for water quality certification under Clean Water Act (“CWA”) Section 401 with regard…

On February 5, 2019, in an unpublished summary order, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit (“2nd Circuit”) overturned the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (“New York DEC”) denial of a water quality certification for National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation’s (“National Fuel”) Northern Access Pipeline Project and remanded it back to the state for further explanation.…

On January 31, 2019, pursuant to Public Law No. 115-270, the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (“AWIA”), FERC issued a notice soliciting comments on proposed rules to establish expedited licensing processes for qualifying projects at existing nonpowered dams and closed-loop pumped storage facilities.…